Attacks on the Press 2005: Brazil
BRAZIL Brazil’s constitution guarantees free expression and prohibits censorship. But in practice, the news media are impeded by defamation lawsuits so common they’re known as the “industry of compensation” and by lower court judges who routinely interpret Brazilian law in ways that restrict press freedom. Authorities won important convictions in the recent murders of two…
Top Brazilian journalist held hostage by punitive lawsuitsAward winner cannot attend presentation; CPJ seeks changes
Belém, Brazil, November 15, 2005—A leading Brazilian journalist being honored by the Committee to Protect Journalists with a prestigious International Press Freedom Award cannot attend the presentation this month because a series of punitive criminal lawsuits has made him a virtual hostage in his Amazonian hometown. “It’s crucial for me to stay in Belém to…